


Post insania

by kenwayallgetalong



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Movies - Raimi), The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Andrew Garfield Spider-Man, Multiverse, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Doctor Strange 2, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie) Spoilers, Tobey Maiguire Spider-Man, let me have this Marvel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 02:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20301670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenwayallgetalong/pseuds/kenwayallgetalong
Summary: Alright people, let’s do this one last time.Or, the post-credit scene we all deserve.





	Post insania

So, _yes_, it turned out there _was _a multiverse, like that egotistical former Stark employee had lied to Parker about, but _unlike_ that guy (Peck? Reck?) had said, everything was a lot more constant between the various Earths. And while some inhabitants of the various Earths they’d visited knew about the multiverse and even travelled between them, (the rude futuristic Spider-man they’d met came to mind), a _lot_ didn’t, and the balance had to be kept so people like Beck (_Beck! That was it._) couldn’t screw it all up to their own ends. And Mordo didn’t exactly care for that balance, and there was only so much one Sorcerer Supreme could do, but Strange remembered Wanda had more than held her own over the years with the Avengers, and almost killed Thanos by herself, so she’d definitely be a useful partner for a spot of multiverse hopping madness, right? 

She was. But Mordo had been relentless, and uncaring in how he manipulated reality and danced between the multiverse like a maniac, and it had been a _long _few days. Mordo had escaped, but the multiverse was safe, reality wasn’t going to fracture apart at the seams, and they were both alive.

So Strange opened a portal back to the Sanctum and they both promptly collapsed on the couch, before they both showered off the dirt that had accumulated from the various universes they’d visited (the less said about the cartoon pig Spidey they met, the better) and ended up lounging on the couch, eating Chinese food, and watching _Queer Eye. _Strange conjured them a few beers, and they sat in comfortable silence for a few episodes, judiciously using their reality bending powers to _steal the last goddamn spring roll Wanda how dare you._

And it was nice. And deserved. 

“Which was your favourite universe?” Wanda spoke up around her mouthful of noodles while, onscreen, Tan France flung out an entire wardrobe’s worth of camo. Strange hummed as he thought for a moment, drumming his fingers on the lip of his beer can. 

“The black and white one.” He said decisively, taking a sip. 

“90124? Oh yeah. Too many Nazis though.”

“I just thought of it as the Noir universe.” Strange admitted, somewhat sheepish. Wanda just rolled her eyes.

“Sorcerer Supreme can’t remember the names of the universes. Gives me faith.” She muttered. 

“Never seen a noir movie?” Strange asked, shocked. “Thought Barton loved them.” 

Wanda dug in her takeout box for another mouthful of noodles before answering, which wouldn’t look like a nervous tic to most, but Strange had a keen eye for detail. 

“Yeah.” She answered crisply, chewing her mouthful of food delicately. “Used to have movie nights on the compound, he’d always choose noir.” 

_Ah_. Strange knew the Avengers were a close group, but groups within groups always formed, and the team that had stood with Cap over the Sokovia Accords had been a particularly tight-knit bunch. Now Steve had thrown in the towel, Sam and Bucky were left chasing his legacy, and Scott was nice, but also preoccupied with reassimilating into his daughter’s life after a five year absence, which had felt like five hours to him, so he had a lot on his plate. Clint and Wanda had always been close since Sokovia, but he’d picked up a new apprentice recently, so he’d been busy with that.

“Sorry.” Strange mumbled lamely, conjuring a fresh beer for her. He might be a doctor, but feelings had never really been his forte, as Christine had often reminded him. She smiled wetly and took it, popping the tab. 

“Thanks.” She replied behind a curtain of hair, spinning one of her rings absently. “Still, could be worse.” She added, taking a sip of beer. “You see what happened to Parker?”

Strange recognised the diversion for what it was, but gamely picked up the ball anyway, grimacing as he conjured himself a fresh beer for good measure. “God. Yeah.” The kid had handled the Beck situation admirably, considering most of the rest of the Avengers were scattered in the months after the Battle of Earth, and he had to step up to the plate quickly, but no one could have predicted Beck’s failsafe plan, leaking his identity to the public and pinning the blame for the London attack on him. The latter part was easily disproven, but the identity matter was another problem. Most of the Avengers’ identities were public knowledge anyway, and they dealt with that as it came, but Parker was barely old enough to drive yet and Beck had thrown him under the bus anyway. 

Strange remembered being in the bodega round the corner from the Sanctum when the news report had come in. Goddamn J. Jonah Jameson. Muckraker. 

Parker had been taken into protective custody by S.H.I.E.L.D, after he’d been attacked at school, but they had no idea how they were going to spin it or protect him, especially with the amount of people he cared about now in the line of fire. Half his neighbourhood knew the kid, they were all targets to anyone that had a bone to pick with Spider-man. And they were a _lot _of those. 

They sat in silence for a few moments, lost in their thoughts, while Antoni showed them how to make guacamole on the TV. 

Then a portal opened in front of the TV and Spider-man walked out. Or swung out, to be more accurate. 

Instantly, Strange and Wanda were back on their feet. Strange’s cloak sped over from its spot in the corner, wrapping itself around him as he conjured a set of shields, while Wanda’s eyes took on their crimson glow as she spun tendrils of energy in her hands. Given Strange was in grey sweats and an old NYPD tee, while Wanda wore sleep shorts and an I HEART NY shirt, they made an odd sight, but there was no mistaking the power they both wielded. 

Spidey, to their credit, raised their hands instantly. “Hey. Sorry.” They said quickly. “I didn’t mean to show up here. Was just swinging through and…” they pointed back over their shoulder, and Strange risked a glance through the portal. Sure enough, another New York City was visible through it, one this Spidey had been swinging through moments ago. As he watched, the portal spun and shrunk into nothing, revealing the TV once more. “Mordo?” Wanda asked, not taking her eyes off Spidey.

“Could be.” Strange sighed, letting his shields drop and rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I’m going to get more grey hairs from this.” 

“Got enough already.” Wanda chuckled, levitating the remote up and pausing the TV. They’d both decided this Spidey wasn’t an enemy. “Sorry Parker.” She added. Spidey balked and darted back from her, hands clenched instantly, dropping into a fighting crouch.

“I’m, what, sorry, who’s Parker?” He floundered, clearly not a practiced liar. His voice was deeper than their Parker’s though. He was taller too. Strange’s eyes narrowed. 

“We know our Spider-man’s identity, it’s ok. You’re in our universe now. What was it O’Hara called it?” Strange trailed off, directing the last part at Wanda.

“Earth 199999?” She guessed. “There was a lot of dimension hopping.”

“Wait, you know who I am?” Spider-man spoke up, rising out of his crouch. 

“Peter Parker, born in Queens to Richard and Mary Parker, raised by your aunt and uncle after your parents died, saw your Uncle Ben die and it inspired you to become Spider-man after he told you that with great power-?” Strange reeled off easily enough, stopping only as Spidey tugged his mask off. 

“Damn.” He muttered. “Alright. So I’m in your universe now?” 

“Yep.” Wanda confirmed, popping the p. Strange took this Parker in. He was older, taller, definitely already graduated college, while their Parker was still in high school. Hell, he looked closer to Strange’s age than their Parker did, if the few grey strands in his brown hair were anything to go by. More mature, assured of himself, not stumbling over the words that came out of his mouth at a million miles a minute. The suit was close to the design he was familiar with,but the metallic web design crisscrossing over it was new. Definitely not a Stark design. And-

“Where are your webshooters?” Strange asked. _That _was it. No webshooters. The tiny wrist-mounted things Parker fiddled with. 

“I, uh, don’t have any?” This Peter-god, this was getting confusing, did he have a middle name?-said, confused, as Wanda passed him a box of chow mein and a fresh set of chopsticks. “The web’s organic.”

“Ew.” Wanda wrinkled her nose as she sat back down. 

“Yeah.” He admitted as he dug in. “Trade secret though, so don’t go telling anyone.” He smiled, and _there_ it was. Parker’s neverending sense of humour. They’d run into a lot of Spider-people through the multiverse, and they always had the same quippy attitude, mocking villains and calming people down with ease. Content to trust him, Strange sat down with them and picked his own takeout box back up. 

“So where are you? In your universe. Time-wise.” He clarified quickly, trying to ascertain where this Peter was so they could get him back. Parker raised an eyebrow at this question over his mouthful of noodles, and Strange mentally berated himself. They needed to ease him into this. “My name is Stephen Strange, I’m a,” he paused for a moment to decide exactly how to introduce himself. “A wizard.” He inwardly winced and offered a mental apology to Wong for the wording. “Wanda,” he introduced her with a nod, and she waved lazily to Parker. “has similar powers. If we can figure out what universe you came from, we can get you back there. It’d help if you have anything from your universe with you.” Parker chewed quickly for a moment, then nodded.

“Alright.” He said simply.

“That’s it?” Wanda said, somewhat taken aback. 

“Yeah, you’re taking to this awfully well.” Strange added. Parker shrugged, an easy, lolling motion that reminded Strange yet again of their Peter. 

“It’s only Tuesday. This week’s been pretty weird already. Prison breakout on Monday morning, Vulture’s back so I had to deal with that, and turns out the maître’d at my wife’s favourite restaurant is buddies with Scorpion, so my anniversary dinner got cut short when he tried to kill me. Parallel universes are pretty easy going after that.” He grinned. Wanda and Strange sat in silence for a moment.

“Wait, did you say wife?” Wanda asked, and Parker smiled the brightest since he’d inadvertently swung into the living room.

“Oh yeah! Me and MJ got married a while back. Yesterday was our ten year anniversary. Some rough patches, but hey, who doesn’t have them? I’m just happy she said yes, really.” As he said this, he tugged off the gloves of his suit to show the simple silver wedding band on his ring finger. “Don’t usually keep anything personal on me when I’m in the suit, but couldn’t help it.” 

“Just how old _are_ you?” Strange asked, unable to keep his mouth shut for longer. 

“Thirty seven.” Parker replied. “Why, how old’s your Spidey?” Strange just scrubbed his hands across his face as Wanda softly replied “Seventeen.”. Parker paled slightly at that.

“Wow.” He whispered. “That’s young.” 

“You were that young when you started, weren’t you?” Wanda pressed gently.

“Younger.” He chuckled ruefully. “Guess after twenty years you forget how weird the whole Spider-man gig is. Feels like somewhere kids don’t belong.” Wanda rested a hand on his shoulder, and he smiled, leaning into the touch slightly. Strange hesitated, loath to interrupt the moment, but-. 

“Could I see that ring?” He asked. Parker’s eyes darted up to him, narrowed slightly, and he quickly clarified. “Could use that to get you back home. Closer affinity someone has to an object, stronger the link is, and easier to work the spell. Used to use people’s hair, but they don’t like that.” He thought back guiltily to Thor. 

“Alright.” Parker allowed, sliding the ring off their finger and tossing it to Strange. “Just don’t make it glow in the dark or something.” Strange grinned.

“Promise.” He replied. Seemingly mollified, Parker stood up from the couch and rolled his neck absently. 

“Mind if I use the bathroom?” He asked.

“Up the stairs, first on the left.” Strange replied, not taking his eyes off the ring as he examined it. Wanda watched Parker go, before standing and joining Strange as he began to reach for the magic, shaping the portal. 

“Need a hand?” She offered.

“I got it.” He replied, glancing up at her. “Thanks though.” He added with a grin. She waved him off casually, leaning against the side table.

“Did he say his wife was called MJ?” She said.

“Yeah.” Strange replied, concentrating on the spell.

“And didn’t Happy say Peter had finally asked out that girl in his class?” She continued. Strange paused in his spellmaking for a moment and looked up, meeting Wanda’s eyes. They both held each other’s gaze for a moment before bursting into laughter. 

“Should we tell Peter he’s met his future wife?” Wanda laughed, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Parallel universes. Same rules as time travel.” Strange admonished, faux-stern as he finished the spell, just as Parker leapt from the top of the stairs and landed neatly beside them, webbing his mask up from the couch as he went. Strange spun his hands and flicked them out towards the wall opposite, away from the TV this time, and the portal spun into life, revealing this Spider-man’s New York spread out below. 

“All yours.” Strange said, gesturing grandly to the portal. 

“Alright.” Parker grinned, tugging his mask back on and flexing his hands. “Thanks for the food, and the whole,” he gestured vaguely at the portal. “Sending me home to the correct universe deal.”

“Happy to help.” Strange replied easily.

“Look after yourself Spidey.” Wanda added. The mask shifted as he grinned behind it, then reached for one of the belt pockets. He held out a folded piece of notepaper to Wanda, with  **TO SPIDER-MAN ** written on the front. 

“Can you give this to your Spider-man? When you see him next?” He said, his voice soft. Wanda took it carefully. “It’s…what I wish I’d known. Back when I was his age.” Wanda nodded tightly. Strange noticed his stationery, but kept quiet. “Thanks.” He added, taking one last look around the Sanctum, before webbing his box of chow mein into his hands and tossing Strange a few dollars. 

“See you guys around.” He called, stepping through the portal. Or more accurately, _tried_ to step through the portal, before something else came sailing through from the other side, knocking him flat on his back. He quickly webbed his chow mein back to his chest as it arced across the room and flipped back to his feet, as Wanda and Strange summoned their magic again as they noticed the figure on the other side of the room was-

“Spider-man?” Wanda asked. The figure in the blue and red jumpsuit across from them definitely looked the part. Slightly different design to this Parker’s, more muted colours, but still close.

“Yeah?” They replied, crouched, hands splayed, ready to fight. “Who the hell are you?”

“Wanda Maximoff.” She replied easily.

“Doctor Strange.” Strange added, tamping down on a memory of _your made-up name_ from years past. Parker stood, carefully depositing his chow mein on the floor, and tugged his mask off.

“Peter Parker.” He said softly. Across the room, the other Spidey rocked on their feet, and ripped off their own mask, the face beneath twisted in disbelief. Same dark hair, but spiky and matted by the mask. Same brown eyes, and as tired as the other Parker’s, despite his clear youth. No grey hairs, but a spray of stubble across his cheeks, so likely college-aged. And on his wrists-

“Webshooters.” Strange breathed. 

“As opposed to silly string?” The newcomer said sharply.

“Great, we got the sassy Spider-man.” Wanda sighed.

“Please tell me one of you has a middle name.” Strange added. “Just to differentiate.”

“Michael.” Said the newcomer wearily. 

“Benjamin.” The first one spoke up. “Is this your Spidey?” He added, pointing to Peter Michael.

“Nope.” Wanda said. “This guy’s new.”

“What was he doing in my universe then?”

“Mordo.” Strange sighed. “He must be screwing with us.”

“Sorry, _your_ Spidey?” Peter Michael chimed in. “I’m the only Spidey.”

“In your universe.” Peter Benjamin added, pointing to the portal. “This led us both here, to Earth 199999. That’s the one right?” He asked Wanda.

“You pick things up fast.” She said admiringly, crossing her arms. 

“Did you get O’Hara’s number? We should contact him.” Strange added.

“Okay, time out, what the hell’s going on?” Peter Michael blurted. “I was just swinging through, minding my own business, and now I’m in,” he paused as he took in his surroundings properly for the first time. “Hogwarts?” 

“Bleecker Street.” Strange said dryly.

“In Greenwich?” He asked. “Damn.”

“Shame it isn’t Queens.” Peter Benjamin muttered.

“Right?” Peter Michael replied, excited. “So, uh, what’s going on?” 

Strange sighed, pulling out his phone and calling the Chinese place. They were going to be here a _while._

**Author's Note:**

> let me have this marvel. let me have it.
> 
> -
> 
> Clint loving noir movies is a detail I’ve unashamedly filched from one of my all-time favourite fics, ‘The Woman in the Crosshairs’, by Frea_O. 
> 
> The detail about the maître d is in reference to Raimi’s cancelled Spider-man 4, which was planned to have Bruce Campbell as Mysterio, after cameoing in the last three films.


End file.
